The postnatal development of cerebellar Purkinje cells in the Göttingen minipig estimated with a new stereological sampling technique – the vertical bar fractionator

The postnatal development of total number and perikaryon volume of cerebellar Purkinje cells was estimated in the Göttingen minipig cerebellar cortex using a new stereological approach, the vertical bar fractionator. Data were obtained from the brains of five neonate and five adult female Göttingen minipigs. The total number of Purkinje cells ranged from 1.83 × 106 in the neonate to 2.82 × 106 in the adult Göttingen minipig. The number-weighted mean perikaryon volume of Purkinje cells increased concurrently from around 6800 µm3 in the neonate to 17 600 µm3 in the adult. The study demonstrates that a pronounced postnatal neurogenesis in Purkinje cell number and perikaryon volume is part of the growth and development of the cerebellum in the Göttingen minipig. The Purkinje cells of the Göttingen minipig were found to be substantially large compared with human and represents the largest cells described hitherto from mammalian cerebella. The vertical fractionator is a new sampling technique, which allows the combination of a fractionator design on vertical bar sections excluding exhaustive sampling and bias from artificial edges. By design, the sections are perfect stereological vertical sections and provide the basis for unbiased estimates of total number of structural entities in the brain, including surface area, fibre length and particle volume